[bobman0330]

I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation here Andy. I'm not going to defend any failures of intelligence or planning that Bush may or may not have committed. Go ahead and damn him for those. Go ahead and blast him for any shortcomings you see in his current policy. Nothing like some insightful and incisive Andyfox commentary to help revitalize political discourse.

That being said, there's a great deal of anti-war sentiment that is indeed baseless. Part of the problem is a structural bias in the media towards car bombings over reconstruction efforts. Part of it, arguably, is a political bias on the editorial boards of a lot of major newspapers. Part of it is people's visceral animosity towards Bush and the right that makes them reflexively opposed to anything he says.

Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal. But in a situation like this, all the insipid Vietnam comparisons and the pessimistic view of the situation on the ground presented in the media can have serious consequences. Especially if they convince the terrorists that they're only a few suicide bombings away from getting the coalition out of the way so they can topple Iraq's democratic government. Or if Iraqis decide that the US isn't going to be in Iraq for the long haul, and they'd better start hedging their bets.

I'm sure there's a base political attempt to immunize himself from criticism here too. But the fundamental point remains that some responsibility is needed before speaking out.